independence usa pac, is now spending a million dollars on a special house race in illinois to replace jesse jackson jr. it's going after one of the candidates who has said that she's against banning assault rifles who has an a-plus from nra. so mayor bloomberg, who's spending big on this race through his mayors group, through his podium, he's using this race as a referendum on the big -- on this issue. >> so mike, when you start counting votes, though, when you look at the congress, what is realistic for the president? is he still looking at an assault weapons ban? background checks? where can he end up on this? >> no, willie, that's very astute. and background checks is where they're hoping to end up. our conversations with house leadership, so there's no appetite in those districts for anything broader than that. the house has said that they're going to wait until a bill comes out of the senate. but the same thing that's going on with immigration. the senate is going to pass a big bill. the house wants to do it piece by piece. that makes it much harder to get anything new. and that key stat that